Sustainable Plating
February 2022
Sustainable plating: Tips for reducing food waste
Warning: The numbers you are about to read may spoil your appetite.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 30 to 40 percent of the U.S. food supply is wasted each year, with about $161 billion in edible food going to landfills. Anywhere from four to 10 percent of food purchased by restaurants never makes it to customers’ plates.
Meanwhile, one in four Americans experiences food insecurity at any given time.
The statistics are staggering. But the good news is that all of us – from farmers to bars and restaurants to consumers – can play a part in reducing how much of our food lands in landfills. Experts believe that eliminating 15 percent of food waste would feed up to 25 million hungry Americans each year.
Working to eliminate food waste not only keeps edible food out of landfills, it also reduces the amount of resources that go into food production, like water, land and energy, lowering the carbon footprint and culling the creation of harmful methane gas.
Today’s consumers expect brands to be socially responsible and promote positive change. Doing your part to eliminate food waste can improve your reputation in your community and attract new customers whose values align with yours.
A recent study by Unilever found that 72 percent of consumers care about how their favorite bars and restaurants handle food waste, and 47 percent said they’d pay more if they knew a restaurant was actively managing food waste.
If that’s not enough to make you take action, consider that for every dollar spent on reducing food waste, restaurants will see an average of $8 in savings on inventory costs, trash bills and even labor, according to foodprint.org.
Want to reduce food waste in your business? For chefs, bartenders and operators, it all starts with incremental changes. Here’s how you can make a difference as a foodservice professional:
Pull back on plate sizes
The first step to less food waste is simple: less food. According to the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, on average, diners leave 17 percent of their meals uneaten, in part because of increasingly bloated portion sizes at restaurants. Smaller portions can cut the amount of food that is trashed, and diet-conscious customers will appreciate the change, too.
Give the menu a makeover
Take a close look at your menu and begin tracking where you can cut back. Are there dishes that you could simply remove, and along with it rarely used ingredients? Could you make sides like bread or tortilla chips optional? Think creatively about which ingredients could be utilized over multiple dishes, or if normally discarded parts of produce (think carrot tops or potato skins) could be incorporated into the menu.
Take part in precycling
Precycling is the practice of decreasing the waste-generating products brought into your business before they can become trash. For most restaurant operators, that simply means ordering less food for your establishment. (Tip: Take note of which items are most often left on plates.) Another responsible habit is accepting imperfect, misshapen or ready-to-expire produce. While the aesthetics may be less-than-perfect, you’ll be keeping those lumpy tomatoes and brown bananas out of landfills.
Make a plan for leftovers
Not all food waste is completely preventable, so it’s good to know your options when it comes to disposal. Reach out to local nonprofits to donate still-good produce to people in need of healthy, safe-to-eat food. Connect with a resell apps like Too Good to Go and Food For All connect that sell ready-to-trash food to consumers at a steep discount. As for the rest? Fruit and vegetable scraps can be composted, and oils and fats can be repurposed as fuels.
The restaurant industry is responsible for roughly 15% of food waste, and for decades, we’ve accepted this as a normal part of our culture – but it doesn’t have to be that way. By taking small steps now, you can create a more sustainable future for your business, your community and your planet.
